Liu Hongbin took bribe to help mainland Chinese student secure conditional offer for place at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
A Hong Kong court on Thursday jailed a former university professor for 20 weeks after he accepted a HK$40,000 (US$5,109) bribe and offered red packets to two colleagues to help an unqualified student gain admission to a postgraduate programme, saying his actions had tarnished the city’s reputation.
Liu Hongbin was sentenced for abusing his authority as chair professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s department of ocean science to help a mainland Chinese student majoring in automotive service engineering secure a conditional offer for a master’s degree in environmental health and safety between March and May 2025.
The 63-year-old defendant pleaded guilty at Kwun Tong Court earlier this month to one count of conspiracy for a public servant to accept an advantage and two counts of offering an advantage to a public servant.
Defence counsel Dick Wong Chun-man on Thursday urged the court to suspend his client’s jail term, highlighting positive comments made by the defendant’s wife, colleagues, students and friends, who described Liu as a selfless and upright marine biologist who had devoted his life to research, teaching and public service.
Wong said the case had a devastating impact on Liu’s career: the research team he had worked with for decades had been dismissed, and his HK$31 million research project into ways to mitigate climate change through coastal management had collapsed.
The lawyer also said that Liu, who had spent 15 days in custody before sentencing, was willing to cooperate with the Independent Commission Against Corruption to use his case as educational material for other mainland immigrants in the future.
Source: News - South China Morning Post
